Background information on the Saab-Koenigsegg deal and Saab’s reorganisation

Swedish news service e24.se published an article with some good background information on Saab’s situation with the reorganisation process. Specifically, it deals with debts, and Saab’s vulnerability to debtors once out of creditor protection. This isn’t about building or driving cars, but is relevant material in terms of understanding Saab’s current position. The translation was done by ctm for Saabs United readers. —— Friday last week saw a telephone conference in the creditors’ committee, the group of creditors that Saab is obliged to keep informed during the reconstruction period. That was when Saab said that reconstruction now is about to be closed. But no details on the financing of the deal with Koenigsegg were given. – “We had a short telephone conference in the committee. I do not want to discuss in detail what was said, but regarding the financial situation nothing were discussed. There were no news at all,” says Mats Hagelin, the Swedish Tax Agency’s representative in the creditors committee. Saab has been under reconstruction since February 20, and has since been protected from being declared bankrupt. On Thursday, August 20, the reorganization period ends and Saab’s CEO Jan Åke Jonsson has confirmed that there is no intention to seek a further extension. 75 percent of the debts of 10 billion SEK has been written off in an arrangement which was completed June 17. GM has paid the remainder of the debts to suppliers and have converted their debt after the composition of SEK 2.8 billion to equity, according to news sources. As of Friday, August 21, it will be theoretically possible for a creditor to put Saab in bankruptcy. This, however, requires that the applicant can demonstrate that the company is insolvent, either by being unable to pay its debts as they fall due and/or can’t pay future liabilities. – “The protection that the reconstruction means is not retained after Thursday. But on the other hand, a reconstruction puts a hard strain on the company’s liquidity because you can’t manage invoices as usual, with credit, since they must be paid immediately. There are advantages to exit a reorganization period,” says Mats Hagelin. The importance of showing up an economically healthy company is also a big one if Saab has to convince the European Investment Bank that they should get the loan of 4.3 billion SEK. – “It is probably doubtful that a company applying for loans from the EIB can be in reconstruction,” says Mats Hagelin. He stresses that the Tax Agency is not interested in forcing Saab into bankruptcy. Instead he express a “hope that the deal in any case will be successful.” – “We have no reason to put Saab into bankruptcy. We have no debt not covered by the composition. Saab has paid all tax debts during the reconstruction, so the claims we, the State, have are not due until next year,” says Mats Hagelin. Although the Tax Agency hopes that the deal with Koenigsegg Group goes without a hitch, the authority still made a declaration of no confidence of in connection with vote on the composition proposal in May. Of the 579 claimants, 107 chose not to participate in the vote. 472 creditors – equivalent to 81,5 percent – had given administrator Guy Lofalk a proxy vote in favor of the composition. The Tax Agency voted no on the grounds that the financial solution was too unclear. Was the meeting last Friday of any importance for you? – “For our own part, it was not that really interesting. We had marked our intention with the composition proposal. We voted against the proposal. I can’t say that the meeting revealed something that we benefit from. You can say that the meeting focused on further action, I do not want to be more specific than that,” says Mats Hagelin. The Tax Agency has claims at just over 348 million SEK and is not a leading creditor. The largest creditor is GM. The 348 million SEK is money that Saab was paid in the form of State wage guarantees and social security contributions for employees during two months. In addition, there is a smaller amount of customs duties.

Saab Car Museum

SCM Support

CardYourCar

By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. more information

The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.